The present invention relates to a process for conditioning radioactive or toxic waste in epoxy resins.
Over the past few years processes have been developed for the conditioning of radioactive or toxic waste in thermosetting resins consisting of introducing the waste into a polymerizable mixture, e.g. constituted by an epoxy resin and a hardener and then allowing the resin to polymerize to obtain a solid block within which are confined the radioactive or toxic wastes.
More specifically, the present invention relates to polymerizable mixtures of this type based on epoxy resins, more particularly usable for the treatment of certain waste materials, such as large solid waste and organic liquids.
Thus, the conditioning of large solid radioactive waste materials causes problems due to the phenomenon of the epoxy resin shrinking during hardening. These problems have hitherto been solved by adding an inert filler, such as e.g. sand to the polymerizable mixture and as described in French patent No. 2 361 725. However, this has led to difficulties in performing the process.
In the case of contaminated organic liquids, it is possible to condition these in thermosetting resins, as described in French Pat. No. 2 230 041, but the treatment of such liquids leads to problems relating to obtaining a homogeneous mixture.